Business Strategy!
The Bakufu, which had attacked Daehan's gold mine in a bid to seize it for themselves, came up with a scheme: they would send ships to the port where the mine was located, one group at a time, disguised as merchants who had fled to take shelter from the storm.
The ships, though suspicious, were grudgingly granted permission to remain outside the harbor. And once a fair number of them had gathered, they dropped the act and opened fire all at once, hammering the fortress walls until they were half collapsed —
— and that was when disaster fell upon them. Haneul, who had been sailing over to collect on an unpaid debt, came crashing down on their heads.
The news soon reached Kamakura, and the Hojo clan fidgeted anxiously as they waited for the next report.
"Lord Hojo! Good news!"
"Really!?"
Hojo Nagatoki, who had been on pins and needles at the sound of someone sprinting toward them from a distance, broke into a wide grin.
"They say the storm sank every one of their ships!"
"Excellent! Are they all dead? Especially that Governor woman?"
Nagatoki had been thinking that if the commander died, the expedition would be rendered meaningless, and he pressed the messenger urgently.
"They say no one was seriously hurt."
"What! Then what good is that!?"
"They had loaded all their supplies for the campaign before the sinking, so it will be difficult for them to act right away."
"Aha!"
Nagatoki concluded that all they had to do was use this window to gather supplies and men.
So what if their weapons were better? Didn't Japan have gunpowder weapons of its own? And with far greater numbers at their disposal, surely if they simply held out, the enemy wouldn't dare move rashly — or so he reasoned.
"Gather the samurai, and hide cannons in positions from which they can fire well!"
"Yes, my lord!"
"War comes down to men in the end! With more men, the advantage is ours!"
Since Daehan would have to come by sea anyway, the Hojo clan and the people of the Kamakura region threw themselves into preparations.
Meanwhile, Daehan was busy restoring the harbor and waiting for its ships, sitting perfectly still — and just like that, three years slipped by.
"Are they still sitting there?"
"Yes! They're holed up inside the fortress, still mining away at the gold."
"Heh?"
After all, the enemy would have to come out and attack before they could be repelled and the gold mine reclaimed. Now they could neither advance nor retreat.
A surprise attack like before was no longer possible, a pitched naval battle was utterly unthinkable, and the land route — over mountain after mountain after mountain — was beyond even contemplating.
"Also, our spies have sent us this."
What he carefully produced were several finger-sized Daehan cartridges, gleaming yellow.
Apparently the spies had pilfered a pocketful or two while the enemy was sorting through cargo that had fallen into the water.
"What is this?"
"We're not sure, but we believe it must be something used in their weapons."
"And where would one use this?"
He picked them up, turned them over, examined them this way and that — but of course there was nothing to see, was there? They were sealed in brass casings.
"They say they've never seen the enemy actually use them, so they can't say for certain."
"Then what about the weapons themselves?"
"They haven't even managed to get a look at those."
Even if the spies had brought one back, it likely would have been a feast for the eyes only. With Japan's metalworking technology, reverse-engineering the thing alone would have taken several hundred years.
"Then send them to the artisans. Have them find out what these things are for."
"Yes, my lord!"
And so, armed with a handful of cartridges they had no hope of deciphering, Japan began its futile digging.
Yet the spies kept coming no matter how many were weeded out — a sign that even the Japanese laborers who had worked alongside them for years couldn't be fully trusted.
"More importantly — are the relay stations finished?"
"Yes! An express courier can reach Kyoto in about seven days. In an emergency, four or five."
"Good work."
Seizing power was one thing, but maintaining it was difficult if word didn't travel quickly. That was why he had kept up the steady work of overhauling the relay stations.
And with agricultural yields rising, full-fledged artisans were beginning to emerge and commerce was coming alive; merchants and travelers crisscrossing the whole of Japan were growing in number by the day.
"Ugh, this is so unfair."
"What is, my lady?"
"Just sitting around waiting for the ships to be ready."
"Shall we go over the mountains instead?"
Mountains? What mountains? It'd be faster to just shuttle back and forth on the ships we have left, disembark on land, and walk from there.
But speaking of which...
"Looks like Japan's been doing a lot of trade with the Qin dynasty lately."
"Yes. Given that they've even bought cannons, it seems they've found a way to slip past us and move around in secret."
We don't even have radar, and when you're relying on human eyes, plenty is bound to slip through.
"Want to go play bandit?"
"Oh?"
"It's a remote area. We'll hide the ship, go ashore, and raid them."
"Let's do it."
And so we took a single Dolphin and started up along the coast. We wouldn't need many weapons, and we'd be eating whatever we plundered, so the ship was nearly empty.
About three or four hours out from the gold mine, we arrived at a promising spot. There was a road visible through the forest beyond the mountains, and quite a few people seemed to be passing back and forth along it.
"This place is perfect. Let's set up a bandit camp. Gotta have a home base, right?"
"Yes, my lady!"
Thwack-thwack, swish-swish.
Once Daehan's tree-slaughtering machines swept through, not a single tree was left standing. Truly, these people are astonishing when it comes to physical labor.
It frightens me, honestly. If we turn them loose on a mountain and let them cut down every tree, won't there be a landslide before long?
"Just put something up, quick and dirty."
"Haha. We'll stack some logs and throw it together."
"Seriously, why are you cutting down so many?"
"We have to build somewhere proper for the lady to stay, of course."
"Enough! We're all bunking together, so just hurry up and build it."
It's not like we're living here for eternity. Why waste the effort on something so pointless?
And yet these stubborn fools went right ahead and tacked a separate building onto the side, like an annex, just for me. Honestly~ does anyone around here ever listen?
"Let's go do some business, then."
"Right behind you!"
Some of us had to stay behind to guard the ship and the camp, so only forty of us headed out. Reminds me of the time we got taken captive to Persia? That was forty too, come to think of it.
A little over an hour's walk brought us to a road that practically announced itself: This is a heavily traveled route, look no further!
"Hide in two groups, one at each end."
"What are you planning, my lady?"
"It's more fun when there's bait."
"Bait?"
Scuffle-scuffle, roll-roll, scratch.
I deliberately rolled around in the dirt, caked myself in soil, and tore my clothes a little here and there. Wait — these are Daehan clothes, though? Nobody's going to recognize them, right?
Eh, even if someone does, we'll just capture them all, won't we. Surely an army won't come passing through, of all things.
"What exactly are you doing?"
"Go hide and watch — I'll show you how it's done. When I signal, block the road."
"Yes..."
From what I could see, small-scale merchants passed through here too, and the trouble with robbing just one is that anyone watching from a distance bolts and runs. Then the rumor spreads, and business gets hard.
I sent off the bewildered-looking boys and —
Flop.
"..."
I sprawled face-down at the edge of the road. Sprawled at a slight diagonal, so that my figure showed off nicely and just a hint of my face peeked out.
Ah. Right, I can only lie diagonally now. With these obstacles on my chest, lying flat is a bit of a challenge.
Clop-clop.
"Hahaha! This time we might actually turn a profit!"
"To think the Bakufu would assign us transport duty like this. Hahaha."
From a distance I could hear voices chattering and the sound of walking, so I decided to peek through half-lidded eyes.
Whoa. What is this? They looked like merchants, with more than ten horses in tow. So they traveled with cargo loaded on horses rather than carts?
There were samurai too, apparently? Such a large group — I suppose that's just how they moved around?
"Hm? Is that a person?"
"Looks like a woman?"
"A woman, by the roadside? Strange. Would you check on her, samurai?"
"Very well."
Ah... so Japanese women just don't go out and about? I'm doomed?
Clank-clank.
"Hey!"
The jerk just prodded me with his scabbard. What do I do?
"She seems to be breathing, but out of her mind?"
This pervert keeps poking at my chest? The main column must have come inside the perimeter and stopped by now, right?
"Hm. Judging by the state of her, she's no noblewoman — but a decent-looking one like this would have plenty of uses if we took her along."
CLICK!
Where did this garbage come from?
"What the—!"
"What else? A signal flare."
BANG! Flop.
Even wearing armor — well, you can't exactly stop a lead ball at this range, can you?
The merchant column suddenly began to seethe with confusion. The samurai dropped dead in a single shot, and from behind them — and from behind me — the boys started walking out.
That signal flare was a killer touch.
"Boys! Give our guests the VIP treatment~"
"You heard the lady! Let's go!"
"WAAAAAH!"
That side had a good thirty people at least, and plenty of them carried blades. Were we going to be okay?
"Who the hell are they!"
"Kill them!"
"To arms!"
Clang! Clash! Crash! Thud! Whump! Crack!
They drew weapons and put up a fight, but they clearly weren't professional samurai. Blades snapped, they took hits and dropped unconscious, and it was over almost instantly.
Merchants and their samurai escorts, scattered about with broken bones and bleeding, all trussed up in one place.
"Grrk! You dare do this and think you'll get away with it!?"
"Get away with it?"
They're surprisingly talkative, aren't they? At this rate, dragging them behind the cart would've been more efficient, no?
Is the road really that bad?
"My lady! Nothing much of note!"
"Huh? At a convoy this size?"
"No, my lady."
"Then strip it all down. Search everyone and everything for hidden valuables."
The bandit gang closed in on the prisoners. It was time for body searches.
"S-stop! Don't come near me!"
"You dogs! This is an outrage!"
"Do you have any idea who I am!?"
How would I know? Do you know who I am?
Jingle-jangle.
"Oh ho?"
"Huh?"
"Nooo!"
Once they'd been stripped down to their undergarments and their clothes shaken out, the metals started raining down.
"Whoa. What's all this?"
"Looks like gold, my lady?"
"Doesn't it get heavy, wearing this much around?"
However precious gold may be, that's got to be exhausting. Hmm. Hold on — those cargoes, too?
"Boys! Dump every last cargo too!"
"Yes, my lady!"
Rustle-rustle.
They started overturning the cargo wholesale. There was food among it, but nothing that looked worth eating — figured we'd be better off running home for supplies when ours ran out.
"Ah... no! Not that!"
"What's 'not that'?"
"I—I cannot say!"
"Then I'll just keep digging."
"S-stop! Stop this at once!"
What's this? There really must be something in the cargo. He keeps resisting in a way that just makes me want to dig deeper?
Crash-rattle-jingle-jangle.
"Whoa."
Gold nuggets came tumbling out of the box of stacked lumber, out of the straw bundles I'd assumed were horse feed — clumps of them, dangling everywhere.
So this is why they had armored samurai strapped to their sides at all times?
Should've caught the ones who ran... A few of them seemed to have bolted, scattering in every direction into the forest. What if a punitive force comes?
"You wretches! You dare do this and think you'll get away with it!?"
"Would I be standing here if I weren't getting away with it?"
"You think you'll remain unscathed after taking the Hojo clan's property!?"
"Yup."
Who cares — Hojo clan or whatever. Until you've coughed up every last coin you owe me, you're all debtor nations. Would this cover a year's interest? Gold, so probably more than that.
"Stop! Please! We'll all die!"
"Only you will."
"Do you have any idea how many samurai there are in Kamakura!?"
"How many?"
Nice, he's handing me intel for free.
"Ten thousand samurai alone!"
"Oh my?"
"...? What is wrong with this fearless idiot of a woman?"
Man, with ten thousand of them, we could honestly just march in on foot. What exactly are these so-called samurai good for?
"Tell them to come here, quick."
"Wh... what?"
Snip.
"Gah!"
He flinched so hard — I only drew my blade to cut his ropes.
"I'll untie you, so hurry and run back, and bring me those warriors — the what-do-you-call-them, samurai."
"You're insane!"
I'm not insane? It just seems like we can wrap this up quickly and go home if I do this.
"We'll remember this!"
"You'd better come too!"
"Just you wait!"
They left spitting fire and vowing revenge, but watching them sprint off wearing nothing but underwear was honestly hilarious.
"All right, everyone — just hide in the brush, drag in anyone who comes by one at a time, and let's go through their cargo."
"Yes, my lady."
I doubt we'll get another haul this big, so there's no need for everyone to go trudging around doing hard labor.
We've already gotten this much gold, after all. But wait — these people have this much gold. Where on earth did it come from?
Come to think of it... they had the money all along, and just never paid us back, didn't they?